Astrobiology (general): October 2013

Betcha didn't know that the unofficial motto of NASA's Astrobiology Program was "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of Congressional paralysis stays these scientists from the swift completion of their appointed webinars" ;-)

We explore how questions related to developing a sustainable human civilization can be cast in terms of astrobiology. In particular we show how ongoing astrobiological studies of the coupled relationship between life, planets and their co-evolution can inform new perspectives and direct new studies in sustainability science.

Finding life on exoplanets may be more difficult than people thought, said Feng Tian, a professor at the Center for Earth System Science at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. The report is being presented today to the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in Denver, CO. The result is of special interest because it may shed light on how and where life could be identified on exoplanets.